Wait, Amaechi is at the Olympic Games? Well, yes. Why exactly? Hard to tell. But whatever the case, itís not exactly going as well as heíd hoped.

John Amaechi is apparently serving as a basketball analyst for the BBC, and according to the openly gay former NBAer, the Redeem Teamers havenít exactly welcomed him with open arms whenever theyíve bumped into one another in Beijing.

In fact, some have acted as though he were a leper.

From the Rocky Mountain News:

ďItís been tense to say the least,Ē Amaechi said.

Amaechi said players have turned away from him, and there remains a ďlot of tension.Ē He mentioned seeing Lakers star Kobe Bryant. ďI ran into Kobe, and he was surprised to see me,Ē Amaechi said. ďIt didnít go well.Ē

Whatís the matter, Kob? Did John ask you how his as-, Ö, um, never mind.

Ah, itís great to see how far the NBA has come since the Tim Hardaway fiasco from last year.

Again, thats way too small, to put it on just NBA players is bad, or just on "jocks". Its socially acceptable in society as a whole to disrespect and look down at gays, whether in music, sports, politics, or just out on the street.

Calling someone a fag is a big insult. Saying something is "gay" just means its wack etc etc etc

Kanye West said it best, as a whole, people need to stop using gay as a way to describe something they dont like, hating on gays is no better then hating on a race and its getting stupid how people can openly be bigotted and not reap the consequences, but please, dont put it on a small group of people when the biggest religion in the world openly gay bashes.

The guy reported on a basketball related site that Amechi is being shunned by the NBA players - you know the same guys he used to play alongside and compete against.

Phrases like

In fact, some have acted as though he were a leper- Every sport is like this, the NBA being like this isnt news.

Amaechi said players have turned away from him, and there remains a ďlot of tension.Ē He mentioned seeing Lakers star Kobe Bryant. ďI ran into Kobe, and he was surprised to see me,Ē Amaechi said. ďIt didnít go well.Ē- Why single out Kobe? Maybe Kobe never liked him to begin with, who knows.

Ah, itís great to see how far the NBA has come since the Tim Hardaway fiasco from last year.- this is the worst phrase in the article, making it seem like its exclusively an NBA problem, not mentioning that other sports are all pretty much the same and so is society, oh those damn insenitive nba players, better listen to the Pope more!! Oh wait, he would tell them the same thing.

Again, Team USA is conducting itself with class and grace for the entire tourny and pre tourny. But some idiot has to put out a meaningless negative story in the middle of it. Waste of time and reading on a redundant subject.

Either Amaechi is trying to be the gay athletes poster boy or he is a moron, what did he expect?

It's the only league with an openly gay former player. As soon as an NFL or MLB guy comes out of the closet and gets treated coldly by players (and make no mistake, if it's in the next 10 years, he will get treated the same way Amaechi does) then those league will get painted with the same brush.

At this point it is strictly an NBA problem. Between Tim Hardaway and Amaechi, the NBA has made more news regarding homosexuals than any other sport.

What was the writer supposed to say?

"Amaechi is being treated poorly by NBA players. This is a shame, but I assume NFL and MLB players would treat gay people poorly as well, so congratulations to the NBA for for remaining competitive on the homophobia front"

No open gays in other sports + no one complaining about gays in other sports = no story about gays in other sports.

"Amaechi is being treated poorly by NBA players. This is a shame, but I assume NFL and MLB players would treat gay people poorly as well, so congratulations to the NBA for for remaining competitive on the homophobia front"
.

my point is really its a stupid article, Amaechi going there is stupid, he knows how he will be treated. Singling out one player like Kobe (considering he is probably the most notable controversal player there) makes Amaechi look like a publicity hound and he should go away.

These kind of negative articles for no reason annoy me to no end, but i see your point, i still think its a stupid article tho.

my point is really its a stupid article, Amaechi going there is stupid, he knows how he will be treated. Singling out one player like Kobe (considering he is probably the most notable controversal player there) makes Amaechi look like a publicity hound and he should go away.

These kind of negative articles for no reason annoy me to no end, but i see your point, i still think its a stupid article tho.

Amaechi is doing his job. He's working for the BBC.

Slamoneline is doing their job, their covering basketball.

Seems like everyone is doing their job. Really the only opinion being expressed here is that professional athletes are homophobic (big surprise) and that he's surprised that strides in being less homophobic haven't been made.

Seems like everyone is doing their job. Really the only opinion being expressed here is that professional athletes are homophobic (big surprise) and that he's surprised that strides in being less homophobic haven't been made.

Your simply reading too much into this.

Perhaps your right. Why did he only say the Kobe thing tho? Why single him out? They making it sound like the whole team, yet give a vague example, waste of time

wow man, this is ridiculous. he's there as a correspondant for the bbc. is your opinion that gay athletes shouldn't be in broadcasting???

ludicrous.

Amaechi and BBC know how he will be treated, would you send a gay reporter into the lockerroom and expect serious reporting? Sorry if i live in reality and not the ideal utopia you live in.

Yes, at the moment having an openly gay reporter in sports will just cause problems, will go over like an openly communist reporter at the white house in the 80s.

Ludacris is him going, secondly making an issue with Kobe about it. Go report on the games then fool, not yourself. He should definately be trying to avoid crap like this if he ever wanted to be taken seriously as a reporter, but he never will, not in this era. Not saying its right, but thats how it is.

Amaechi and BBC know how he will be treated, would you send a gay reporter into the lockerroom and expect serious reporting? Sorry if i live in reality and not the ideal utopia you live in.

Yes, at the moment having an openly gay reporter in sports will just cause problems, will go over like an openly communist reporter at the white house in the 80s.

Ludacris is him going, secondly making an issue with Kobe about it. Go report on the games then fool, not yourself. He should definately be trying to avoid crap like this if he ever wanted to be taken seriously as a reporter, but he never will, not in this era. Not saying its right, but thats how it is.

But the BBC has every right. Up until this point, John Amaechi was the most well known basketball player to come out of the UK. It's like when Canada sends Sherman Douglas or something.

And your essentially saying that because he is gay, he should avoid regions, sorry you said, it's not right but that's how it is. But by taking this stance, your still saying well, I know it's a problem but c'est la vie. Really, we should be supportive of John if this was the case. He should be allowed to go where he wants and not be seen as a gay man. That's the problem here. They don't see John Amaechi the guy who played basketball for x amount of years; they see John Amaechi, the gay man, who was in the same locker room as me. That's a DEFINITE problem.